Maiduguri

Town and capital of Borno state, Nigeria, in the dry savannah zone, approximately 160 km/99 mi southwest of Lake Chad; population (1992) 289,000. The town has an annual rainfall of only 635 mm/25 in, and lies near the limit of commercial agriculture, but it is important for cattle rearing and some groundnuts are grown. There are also palm oil mills, and shoes and cotton are manufactured. The town has rail links to the south and a long tradition of trans-Saharan trade. It is an important depot for the transfer of petroleum products from Nigeria into Chad.

It was once the centre of the independent kingdom of Kanem--Bornu, which resisted the Fulani jihad (holy war) of the early 19th century that brought the Hausa states to the west under Fulani hegemony.